As the Light Dies (95 page)

Sebastian nodded once and said
,“
We could double back and check the other escape ladders, or we could cross over to the supermarket and try to get down from over there
.
”

Leann was shaking her head
.“
Ther
e’
s no external ladder the roof, only inside...
.”
Andy butted in
,“
W
e’
ll have to hop down from the canopy over the front doors.
C’
mon supermarket it is, the further away from the Eastgate we can get the better. Let Sebastian through and le
t’
s go
.
”

Sebastian took up the lead again, pushing forwards as fast as he could trying not to stumble in the snow as he leaned in to the wind.

Lightning arced across the sky forking of in to multiple strands of burning bright light followed by thunder that growled so loud it felt like the air around them shook. Leann actually thought she felt the roof vibrate from it through her feet, but she kept it to herself for fear of looking stupid.

“
This weather is
n’
t normal
,”
said David.

A
,“
Nope
,”
from Gavin was his only answer. Everyone else just kept on walking, until after a few long minutes fighting against the elements with the threatening sound of slapping hands against the roof- lights behind them, Sebastian called back
,“
Her
e’
s the overpass. I
t’
s not very wide, and ther
e’
s nothing to hold on to
.
”

Andy looked down at it, because the supermarket was
n’
t as tall as the Eastgate Centre, they were going to have to climb down a short roof ladder.

Andy raised his voice and said
,“
Everyone stay close, take it slowly and do
n’
t look down
.
”

Dean added
.“
Rest a free hand on the person in front and do
n’
t take your eyes off it until were over
.
”

Andy nodded at Dean
,“
Sounds like a good idea
,”
he said.

“
I learned it from a retired trapeze artist
,”
said Dean.

Andy nodded again then barked
,“
No
w
GO!”

They did!

They climbed down on to the roof of the overpass and started to make their way over the narrow strip of roof all joined together holding the shoulder of the person in front. David held on to Sarah with both hands constantly telling her to look straight ahead and that she was doing great as she held on to An
n’
s waist with both of her hands. A few times the wind caught them causing them to stop and crouch down against the gust. Several of them yelped out in fear but in the end they made it over safely. The supermarket roof was a bland wide open space peppered with pyramid shaped roof-lights poking up here and there along with the odd section of ventilation shaft over near the freezers.

Once they were all clear from the edge of the roof Sebastian spoke up
.“
If ther
e’
s a truck in the loading bay maybe we can climb down on to...
.
”

“Not a chance,”
said Andy cutting in
.“
The loading bay was swamped before we made a break for it
.
”

“
But that was a day ago
.”
said Leann.

Andy cut in again
,
“No
!
W
e’
re not going down in to the loading bay. W
e’
ll use the canopy over the front doors
.
”

Andy never wanted to go near that loading bay ever again. He could
n’
t bear the thought of seeing anything that might still remain from what had happened there a day ago.

“
Yea, I think And
y’
s right
,”
said Collin feeling the same remorse.

“
I know what happened was terrible
,”
said Leann
.“
But we need to survive as well
.
”

Sebastian looked lost for a moment looking between them when Dean jumped in and said
,“C’
mon, le
t’
s hit the canopy first! See if we can drop down from there. If we ca
n’
t then w
e’
ll look elsewhere.

“
Tha
t’s
exactl
y
what w
e’
re going to do
,”
said Andy, and he spun around and started to jog across the roof towards the front of the shop.

The others followed close behind as he led the way fighting an unimaginably tough fight to keep Thom out of his mind. The thought of climbing down in to the loading bay and seeing anything was too much.

His mind ran wild, showing him Tho
m’
s half eaten body laying on the steel steps staring up at him with a look of wonder on his eaten face. Wondering why Andy had
n’
t helped him. His remains were scattered across the loading bay, yet he still looked at Andy, still waiting to be saved.

The thought tried to buckle him at the knees.

It was my fault. All my fucking fault
,
he thought to himself repeatedly.

“ANDY!”

His name screeched through his ears and suddenly Andy bucked backwards as his collar dug deeply in to his neck as it was yanked from behind! The
y’
d reached the front of the supermarket and he had
n’
t realised. H
e’
d been buried so deep in his waking nightmare that he nearly walked clean off the roof! Leann was the one who had screamed his name, and then when he did
n’
t respond Dean had reached out and grabbed him. The three of them stood there for a minute looking at each other awkwardly, well aware of the infected slapping at the roof light somewhere behind them. Andy cleared his throat and nodded, first at Leann and then at Dean.

“
Thanks
,”
he said
.“I’
m ok. I just got thinking about yesterday, tha
t’
s all
.
”

“
You sure
?”
said Dean.

“
Yea,
I’
m sure
,”
said Andy nodding again. Then he turned and looked down at the car park with them, what they could see of it through the ash and snow.

The car park was quiet and still. The only movement they saw were waves of loose snow being driven along by the wind. Waves of black snow sweeping across the alien looking surface until it met with a solid fixture or joined with one of the many drifts gradually burying everything in sight, consuming the land and everything on it. Nothing was clear. Everything was being overcome, creating a nightmarish bleak new world. Darkness was taking over.

“
Looks good
,”
said David
.“
Well, it looks clear. We should get a good shot at this
.
”

*****

Gavin was the first to touch down. He did
n’
t wait for instructions or a list of who goes first.

He lowered himself down over the edge of the roof, and with his arms fully outstretched he let go and dropped another ten inches or so on to the two inch thick reinforced glass canopy. Then without hesitating he repeated the move and dropped down beside the front doors. He landed with a tumble falling further than he thought he would and hurt his already weak ankle. Dean flinched grinding his teeth scared that Gavin had twisted his bad ankle, or even worse.

But Gavin was up in a flash drawing his sword and whispered back up to the others
,“
Ok, whose next
?”
So one by one they dropped down copying him move for move.

Dean waited on the glass canopy and took a hold of Sam as David passed him down and in turn Dean passed him down to Gavin and then they copied the movement with Sarah. David wanted to make the climb with Sarah piggy back but it was too risky, so she made the drop alone and without any fuss, and as soon as she touched down Sam trotted over to her and stayed by her side. David saw that she liked him and felt safe beside him and he was grateful for the big dog. Before long only Andy was left on the roof. He was dropping rucksacks down listening to the slapping sounds behind him when he heard the unmistakable sound of breaking glass. He stopped what he was doing and looked back across the rooftop listening. There was a thudding sound that he had
n’
t heard before followed by cracking snapping brittle glass and then that damn gurgle!

The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end and a shiver raced down his spine.

They’re through
,
he thought, and he dropped the rest of the bags as fast as he could, tossing them over and letting them fall where ever they fell without bothering to throw them to anyone anymore
.
They’ll find the
m
, he thought.

“
Hey
,”
said Ann
.“
Wha
t’
s up
?
”

Andy leaned over the edge of the roof as he dropped the last bag and said
.“
The
y’
ve broken out, there on the roof
!
”

Ann could
n’
t respond, she just looked at Andy wide eyed.

“
The
y’
re never going to stop, are they
?”
she said to herself as Andy made the drop himself.

“
Do
n’
t they ever give up
?”
said David.

“
Does
n’
t look like it
,”
said Andy shouldering his rucksack, making sure everyone else had theirs, and they did.

The first gurgles floated down from the roof top, carried on the changing wind.

“C’
mon
!”
said Dean, and they started moving through the car park weaving around cars and stepping over drifts without looking back.

They joined Millburn Road and ran east, away from town sandwiched between a seven foot high wall on their left that ran the length of the road concealing the railway tracks on the other side, and on their right was a steep embankment covered with trees and shrubs that were all brittle and dead.

As they ran Andy asked David
.“
Have you made up your mind yet? Like where you wanna go
?
”

Ann heard Andy and butted in
,“
They can come with me, i
t’
ll be safe at mine plus Sarah will love playing with my kids. I
t’
ll do them all good
.
”

“
Uh, if tha
t’
s ok
?”
said David.

“
Of course it is
,”
she said
,“
I mean, i
t’
s not like Sara
h’
s gonna manage to go with Dean and Gavin all the way up to their parents place is it. Twenty miles or so, in these conditions
.
”

David had to agree with her, and he knew she was right about having other children around. It would help them keep occupied playing with each other.

They trotted along in the middle of the road that had been cleared at some point the previous day making it slightly easier going on everyone.

The infected calls behind them helped them keep their pace up, until...
.
‘Thump! Thump! Thump
!

Andy looked back to see what the new noise was before they rounded a bend in the road and lost sight of the supermarket.

Ann saw him and turned to look as well. Her eyes opened wide and her mouth dropped open behind her mask
!
“Oh God!”
she said, catching the attention of the others as she spoke.